Two Pa. women charged after robberies, attempted holdup

WAYNESBORO, PA. - Two Waynesboro women were in Franklin County Prison on Monday, one charged in connection with two robberies and an attempted holdup, the other in connection with an attempted robbery.

Those charges are related to an attempted holdup at Blue Ridge Food and Fuel at 15010 Buchanan Trail East and a robbery at Grant Street Express at 409 N. Grant St. Ext., both on Feb. 24, according to the criminal complaints.

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Waynesboro police charged McKenzie on March 9 with robbery, terroristic threats, simple assault and theft in a Feb. 25 holdup at Best Western at 239 W. Main St.

Keller said the police department filed the charges against Socks with District Justice Larry Pentz on Monday.

Socks was already in Franklin County Prison, having been arrested Thursday on an unrelated drug charge, according to a Franklin County Drug Task Force affidavit filed with Pentz's office. The affidavit stated she is charged with selling crack cocaine to an informant on March 18.

McKenzie was released on $25,000 unsecured bond following her March 3 arraignment before District Justice Larry Meminger, police said. She was in jail Monday, a prison official said.

A telephone tip led to the arrest of McKenzie, Waynesboro police said.

At 10:34 p.m. on Feb. 24, a thin woman with broken front teeth handed the Grant Street Express cashier a note stating, "I have a gun on you give me the money," township police said. The woman, who held a hand under her shirt, fled with about $100.

Shortly before midnight, a woman bought a soda at Blue Ridge Food and Fuel and left in a gray van, the affidavit stated. A few minutes later, she returned and asked the clerk to let her inside to buy cigarettes.

The clerk opened the door and the woman slid a note onto the counter reading, "Give me ... money or you die." The woman held her hand under her sweatshirt and told the clerk an accomplice with a gun was outside.

The clerk grabbed the woman and threw her outside. He then locked the door and called police, police said.

At 1:49 a.m. on Feb. 25, Waynesboro police got a call that a woman with a knife robbed Best Western. She got about $170 from the clerk and fled, police said.

The caller who tipped off police on Feb. 25 was shown a surveillance video from Best Western and identified the robber as a neighbor named "Louise." The victims at Blue Ridge Food and Fuel and Grant Street Express picked McKenzie out of a photo lineup, police said.

"She didn't go inside, but she was present and apparently shared in the proceeds," Keller said of Socks' alleged involvement in the Blue Ridge Food and Fuel incident. The McKenzie affidavit stated the clerk saw another person in the van before the attempted robbery.

In the Grant Street Express robbery, the robber told the Best Western clerk she had someone waiting outside, but the clerk did not see anyone, according to the affidavit.

Waynesboro Police Chief Ray Shultz could not be reached Monday for comment.